[chillysalsa]

I would much prefer the Gilmore Lite to the RA-1 if I had a choice, especially considering the price.

The RA-1 clone I had was hazzy in the treble, and lacking bass extension (impact). I much prefer the sound of Gilmore amps in comparison, they have much better detail and are far more neutral throughout the frequency range, I think owing to the fact that Gilmore can pass high current into low impedance cans like Grados.

At least that has been my observations with SR325's...

 

[the terabyte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdsk8 Problem is I have a lot of mp3's ( 65 GB worth) but only 75 CD's or so ...and old ones at that. If I were to hold off on the amp what would be a good CD player in the $300 range ....or do I need to spend a lot more? thanks for the advice... Rob

imo the difference between sources is much greater than that between well-compressed MP3s and CDDA, so it may be worth it to upgrade your MP3 listening source if that's the bulk of your library.

 

[Nik]

RP3 + RS-1 a very good combo!

Best!
Nicola

 

[jpr703]

Don't dismiss the quality of your iPod's line out. The quality of your encoding will make more difference than changing your source IMHO.

I use 320 AAC through my iPod's line out and am listening to a set of 225s with a Gilmore Lite and the sound is really good.

There is a small improvement when using a high end disc player as a source and no improvment when using a portable compact disc player as a source. Plus there are about 300 CDs on the iPod that I don't have to carry around with me any more.

I'd recommend doing your own source comparision. Listen to a CD and compare it to Apple Lossless and 320 AAC. You may hear a very small difference, but when you think about lugging all those discs around with you, you may decide that it's well worth it.

As a side note, I did notice an improvement in sound when going from my Pimeta to the Gilmore Lite. To my ears, it was a significant one. I also noticed a much smaller improvement when I added the Dedicated Power Supply to the Lite--definitely not a must have, but the subtle differences are nice.